Saturday, May 23, 2009

The new Star Trek movie takes us where no Star Trek movie has gone before: with an official Star Trek licensed cereal...and it's about time.

No, you're not seeing double. I'm just pulling the old "one to keep and one to eat" maneuver. Classic.

It looks like we've got a modified Lucky Charms template complete with multi-colored marshmallows and crunchy "galaxy" swirls. The swirls look like they may be "Mini Swirlz" cinnamon bun cereal components but it tastes like the cinnamon flavor got red shirted so the marshmallows have to pick up the slack.

Although the side by side comparison holds up pretty well:The breakdown works out to be: the red planet Vulcan, the blue planet Earth and blue, yellow and red Starfleet insignias (or "Delta Shields" according to the box).

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Another year, another Free Comic Book Day. On Saturday we shot Free Comic Book Day 2009 at Titan Comics in Dallas, TX.Brady is a young comic book fan who is learning to read with the help of comics. He loaded up with all the free comics he could carry. His story will be a part of the documentary,Special thanks to Jeremy and the staff of Titan Comics. Visit them online here:http://www.titancomics.com/

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Surprisingly, there aren't many celebrities in the world of novelty beer. But the ones that do stand out usually have the benefit of cashing in on a famous name. Rightfully so, since nothing moves products off the shelves like a prominent name or face slapped on a label. Our favorite bubbly amber beverages are no exception.

The beer aisle is usually dominated by Rocky Mountains and Silver Bullets but occasionally a famous face will slip in and some TV marketing synergy makes its way out of the liquor store and into your refrigerator. While these instances are few and far between, we found several intoxicating examples of celebrity suds.

TV tycoons deserve their own private stock. So it's only natural that J.R. Ewing, the ultimate "love-to-hate-him" bad guy from the 1980's juggernaut soap opera Dallas, had his own exclusive brew.

Some argue that the show reached its zenith during the "Who shot J.R.?" cliff hanger but I respectfully submit that the release of J.R.'s Private Stock easily trumped that moment.

Another 80's TV mega-hit, M*A*S*H, also took it to the next level by releasing their own beer. If memory serves, they seemed to drink more martinis than beer on the show but the military minded marketing masters of M*A*S*H wisely decided that beer would be easier to sell than the do-it-yourself still that appeared on the show.

For years, every Halloween, Elvira would crawl out of her dungeon to be the spokesghoul for Coors Light. And as the years went by Coors realized...that years had gone by. So the next year the company picked a younger model to be their Halloween huckster.

Always the entrepreneur, Elvira decided she didn't need Coors one bit and decided to create her own witch's brew. And that my friends is the story of Elvira's Night Brew.

Not all Hollywood beer stories have happy endings. In Australia both the Simpsons and beer have huge fan followings. So naturally they decided to combine the two and even more naturally they decided to name it after Homer Simpson's favorite brand: Duff. No problem, right?

Not according to attorneys from the Fox network. They put a quick kibosh on the Australian ale turning it from novelty nosh to collector's commodity. As with most confrontations, the real winner was eBay since enough cases of the embargoed brew were created to keep bidders in a frenzy.

Speaking of illegal substances, the most famous outlawed ale in the Alpha Quadrant comes from the Romulan Empire. Romulan Ale is blue in color and is infamous throughout the galaxy for creating some of the worst hangovers in Starfleet history.

This stuff was sold by the case and from the tap at the former Star Trek: The Experience in Las Vegas. Since it closed the universe has held its breath waiting for the inevitable return.

And finally, Panther Brewing Company brings back old school slapstick with our old pals Moe, Larry & Curly. There's not an obvious connection between beer and the comedy trio which makes the tie-in both odd and brilliant.

The randomness adds to the fun, which is really what celebrity novelty beer is all about. That and blatant marketing,

So as you can see, while TV and beer are two of the greatest of mankind's achievements, nothing tops the combination of the two.

About Me

I am an independent documentary filmmaker. My work ranges from educational to goofy.

Past documentary projects I have worked on include "Comic Book Literacy", "Fast Food" (following the wild & wacky exploits of product mobiles like the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile & more!) and earth science educational documentaries like "Oklahoma Rocks!" and "RockHounds: The Movie."